Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov thanked his British, Danish and American counterparts for their support while attending the Ukraine donor conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, during which he stressed the importance of staying unified against Russia.

“Russia’s words, and agreements with them, are not worth the paper they are written on. So what can be done? This solution is obvious,” Reznikov said. “Russia succeeds when it manages to divide us, when it confronts us one-on-one, pulling together its resources and beating us. Russia is defeated and backs down when it loses the initiative, and meets with coordinated resistance.”

The conference was being held to discuss long-term financial and military support for Ukraine’s defense in its war against Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also addressed the conference via video call.

— Natasha Turak

The Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner published updated numbers for child casualties in the five and a half months since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24.

According to the commissioner, 316 children have been killed and 705 injured. Additionally, 204 children are listed as missing and 6,159 have been deported, the commissioner said. Ukrainian prosecutors and Western officials are investigating what they say is the forced deportation of potentially hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians into Russia, which is considered a war crime.

Moscow denies any such accusations and says that Ukrainians have come into Russia of their own accord.

— Natasha Turak

Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, designated Russia as a terrorist-supporting state and urged the EU to ban the entry of Russian citizens for tourism.

In a statement, the parliament said: “Russia has been providing support and financing for terrorist regimes and organizations for many years, directly and indirectly, as the largest arms supplier for the Assad regime in Syria and as an implementer, such as the poisoning of the Skripal family or the shooting of the MH-17 aircraft.”

It added: “In Ukraine, Russia has chosen a similar, cruel, immoral, and illegal tactic, using imprecise and internationally banned weapons and ammunition, targeting disproportionate brutality against civilians and public places.”

Latvia’s public broadcaster LSM wrote that “the Saeima acknowledges Russia’s violence against civilians, which is being pursued for political purposes, as terrorism and Russia as a country supporting terrorism, and calls on other similar-thinking countries to express such an opinion.”

In response, Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as Latvia’s “xenophobia” over the resolution, Reuters reported, citing ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

— Natasha Turak

Satellite imagery from U.S.-based Planet Labs shows at least eight Russian warplanes damaged or destroyed from massive explosions that took place on Tuesday at Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea.

The Kremlin has denied that any planes were damaged in the blasts that it says killed one person, injured 14 more and damaged nearby houses.

The Ukrainian air force says at least nine Russian planes were destroyed while on land, although Ukrainian officials have not publicly taken responsibility for what analysts say was likely an attack either directed by Kyiv or carried out by Ukrainian partisans.

Russia has downplayed the possibility of a targeted attack, although analysts say the satellite imagery suggests just that. Moscow has said that “aviation munitions detonated” in a storage facility at the base.

— Natasha Turak

Russia’s arms industry is a major export sector for the country, but it’s now likely to face problems in fulfilling some of its orders because of the strain on capacity from the war in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense wrote in its daily intelligence briefing on Twitter.

“Russia is highly unlikely to be capable of fulfilling some export orders for armoured fighting vehicles because of the exceptional demand for vehicles for Russia’s own forces in Ukraine, and the increasing effect of Western sanctions,” the ministry wrote.

Its “military industrial capacity is now under significant strain, and the credibility of many of its weapon systems has been undermined by their association with Russian forces’ poor performance in the Ukraine war,” the post added.

— Natasha Turak

As Ukraine and Russia trade blame for shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, one former employee said the consequences could be catastrophic and that she is terrified for her former colleagues at the facility in the town of Enerhodar. 

“The mood there is very sad. It is very scary for them to work,” Alyona, 37, told NBC News on Tuesday from the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is still under Ukrainian control. 

NBC News isn’t revealing her last name because she still has family in parts of the Zaporizhzhia region under Russian rule and she fears repercussions. Also, her husband is in the Ukrainian army. 

Alyona said she stopped going to work as an engineer at the nuclear plant after Russian forces seized it in March and escaped to Zaporizhzhia soon after.

She added that she is still able to call and exchange messages with some of her former co-workers at the plant, which was operated by around 11,000 people before the Russian invasion. The number of staff currently working there is unknown. 

Read more of this NBC News report here.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the European Union and the G-7 countries to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens.

“Russians overwhelmingly support the war on Ukraine. They must be deprived of the right to cross international borders until they learn to respect them,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Washington Post that the only way to stop Russia from annexing any more of Ukraine’s territory is for Western countries to ban all Russian citizens.

— Amanda Macias